SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council approved an approximately $300,000 contract on Tuesday that will begin the process of renovating the former Wells Fargo building on South Main Street into a parks and recreation event center.

The contract is for professional services including architectural, administrative and contracting services for the renovation of the building located at 130 S. Main St. 

“We want the project to be an integral part of the Bell Tower Green Park as well as function independently during typical weekdays, offering convention, conference and flexible group meeting space and support parks and recreation usages such as staff office space,” said Parks and Recreation Director Keisha Coxe.

The contract that was approved unanimously by the members of the council during Tuesday’s meeting detailed the future floor plan of the building.

The main floor would be used as a multi-function event center, set up for leased events of various sizes with the potential that it could be split and leased to multiple groups at one time. There would also be breakout areas or areas for smaller groups, a catering kitchen and storage for event equipment.

The second floor would be utilized for the parks and recreation offices, potentially providing room for department growth in the future. Bogle Firm also provided the option for the city to include rental office space on the second floor.

The basement would include additional storage space for event and city equipment as well as a green room with a lounge area and a private restroom.

For the exterior of the building, the main changes would be adding a “fell of connection to Bell Tower Green Park,” exploring adding vegetation and shade to the parking space without losing capabilities and exploring softening and improving the exterior appearance with ideas such as signage, lighting or vegetation.

Pete Bogle, the principal-in-charge of the Bogle Firm, spoke at the meeting and said that as a Rowan County native, he viewed the event center as an opportunity to work for his community.

“I’m from here, I’m a West Rowan grad. We give good attention to all of our projects, but this one’s special. This one’s here in our downtown. This one matters. I was a member of (Downtown Salisbury Inc.) back when this building first came up for sale and I was a little disappointed to see that someone else bought it, because I knew the city was considering it. When it came back up for sale again, I was thrilled with the fact that the city jumped on it,” said Bogle.

After Bogle’s presentation, Mayor Karen Alexander said that she was thrilled that a local firm won the bidding process. Alexander, an architect herself, also said that she had looked into the math behind the company’s proposal and believed that Bogle had offered a great deal.

City Manager Jim Greene Jr. and Public Works Director Chris Tester said that as they work on the design process with Bogle, they will make sure to closely include the parks and recreation department, Downtown Salisbury and the Rowan County Tourism Development Authority in the conversations as well as providing regular updates in front of the city council.

Greene also stated that the city has not yet identified the funding source for the actual construction, but that city staff was looking into grant opportunities for the funding.